Oddly, I am not talking about Jason Kipnis, who, despite going hitless in his major league debut, showed me enough to make me believe he belongs here. It began with a stellar defensive play up the middle during which he made a throw falling away from first that got to Matt LaPorta on one hop just in time. I had heard that the limiting factor to his promotion was his defense. Now, I have seen the kid make some errors down in Columbus, but he looked like a wizard tonight. The most important piece is not the range (which is nice) or the arm (that we all knew was there), but rather the instincts and decision making that he displayed on the biggest stage of his life. Better than his D was the ball he took off of his knee in the 8th inning. With the Tribe in desperate need of baserunners against a pitcher (Gavin Floyd) who had dominated them all night, Kip moved not an inch as the ball came at him. He took one for the team. As the smattering of White Sox fans at the Prog threw their hands up in indignation, he trotted to first while holding back a sly grin. This is an old school baseball play. In an age where pitchers are not supposed to throw inside and batters are expected to dive out of the way, Kipnis disregarded the status quo... in his first major league game. I applaud him for it.
So, if I am not railing against Kipnis, then who? Although Lonnie Chisenhall can look over-matched at times, when he locks in, the ball rockets off of the bat. He also fields the hot corner well, even if his throwing could use some work. More than the youth, I am disgusted with the retread crap. I might actually have to hire a marksman to take out Austin Kearns... and Chad Durbin... and Matt LaPorta. A AAA roster is made up of four types of players: young talent (we have already covered that), former big leaguers struggling to hang on (Kearns, Durbin, Orlando Cabrera), failed prospects (big red light goes off over LaPorta and Fausto Carmona) and the irrelevant group of career minor leaguers. How many players on the Indians 25-man are unequivocally big league players? I will give you Rafael Perez, Asdrubal Cabrera, Travis Hafner, Joe Smith and, I guess, Chris Perez. Outside of those five guys (three of them in the bullpen), the Tribe could very easily be an International League franchise.
That is enough. I hate losing.
Fun Fact: Adam Dunn is 2-for-65 (.030) against left-handed pitching this season.
Here's to getting some men on base against Edwin Jackson tomorrow (1.43 WHIP).
Cheers.
